Israel Independence Day Award Goes to Poet Behind the “iron Curtain”

May 15, 1959

JERUSALEM (May. 14)

The 1959 Israel Independence Day literary awards included for the first time a prize to an author who writes from a country behind the Iron Curtain. The author, a Yiddish poet who writes under the pseudonym Y. Goleh, was voted the award for a poem “Massah Gog” — the Burden of Gog — which was published in a literary monthly in Israel.

The awards were announced last night at a ceremony at the Hebrew University by Zalman Arane, Minister of Education. The ceremony was preceded by a reception given by Mayor Gershon Agron. Goleh shared the poetry prize with Izhar Smilanski.

A prize for research in Islamic culture was awarded posthumously to the late Prof. Leo Meyer. Rabbi S. I. Zevin was honored for his work on the Talmudic Encyclopedia. Prof. Ephraim Katchaiski and Dr. Michael Selah were awarded prizes in the natural sciences and Prof. Hillel Openhairmer was honored for his research in citrus growing. Yosef Zaritski won the award for painting and sculpture and Actor Yeshoshua Bertonov for the theater.